Atlanta’s luxury car buyers are bypassing the traditional sedan for sport utility vehicles. They also have high expectations for safety, but are much less interest in hybrids and electric cars than in years past, according to area dealers and company officials.

“Over the last 18 months, SUVs are a lot hotter item than sedans,” said Stephen Burroughs, general manager of Lexus Atlanta. “Everybody wants a SUV and this is not just Lexus. This is across all brands. It’s become an SUV world.”

As gas prices have declined, the interest in trucks and SUVs have grown – particularly for the smaller crossovers that are built on car frames and tend to get better gas mileage than their older, heavier versions.

“The passenger car market has been down, but some of the SUV segments, in particular the small entry-level SUV, are growing,” said Jason Cropper, Lexus Southern area general manager. “In Atlanta, it’s up about 6 percent for us with our vehicle the NX, which is in that segment. It’s up about 10 percent.”

The Lexus NX 300 is a five-passenger compact SUV aimed at the growing demand for smaller crossover vehicles.

“We packed more features into the vehicles,” said Cropper. “We’re seeing that segment continue to grow. I think you’ll continue to see that from all manufacturers, as they want to compete where the sweet spot is. That is certainly what the consumer is saying – there is still this trend toward luxury sport utility vehicles.”

These luxury SUVs are both more refined and more technologically advanced than older versions, he added. “You don’t have to sacrifice as you used to between MPG or utility,” said Cropper. “You can get both in one package.”

The rush to SUVs has been particularly good for dealers who specialize in the segment, such as Range Rover.

The newest offering is the Range Rover Velar. “It is a more competitive SUV for customers looking for one that is not a full-sized Range Rover or as large as the Range Rover Sport,” said Kenzie McCarthy, Internet sales manager with Hennessy Jaguar Land Rover Buckhead. “It has generated a ton of traffic and interest with our brand.”

On the Jaguar side, the famed maker of sedans is offering its own SUV, the Jaguar F Pace AWD, the first SUV in the 80-year history of the brand.

“The bulk of what we sell is SUVs,” said McCarthy. “Most of the customers who reach out to us are already in the market for SUVs and we cater to that market.”

Car dealers aren’t anticipating increases in sales volume in the coming year. RBM of Atlanta, a Mercedes dealer, may see a slight uptick of perhaps 1 to 2 percent, according to Eric Koenigsberg, master certified Mercedes-Benz sales consultant and director of training at RBM of Atlanta.

“I would say it’s stabilized,” he said.

Much of the increase in sales is expected to come from new models being introduced.

Mercedes introduced the 2018 Mercedes-AMG E63 S Wagon, which seeks to be a more versatile sibling to the Mercedes-AMG E63 S Sedan. The 2018 Mercedes-AMG GT R COUPE is a racing car that has been designed for street use.

One of the biggest differentiating features in the segment is safety. Buyers want cars that offer the latest in active safety technology, such as packages that tie together radars, sensors, and cameras to assist drivers in staying in their lanes and avoiding other cars or pedestrians.

“For decades, auto makers have pursued bench mark levels of both quality and safety,” said Matt Sloustcher, Acura public relations manager. “Safety has been improving over time.”

In years past, car makers were focused on making their cars better able to sustain crashes, with crumple points and sturdier frames.

“Active safety is a little different, as it attempts to prevent or reduce the severity of collisions altogether,” said Sloustcher. “You’re really starting to see that take hold now in the market.”

All the car brands have their own names for these integrated packages. Acura calls their system AcuraWatch. The system includes radar in the front of the car and a camera integrated behind the rearview mirror that looks frontward.

“The reasons that we have both radar and a camera is to leverage a concept called sensor fusion,” he said. “Essentially, we want overlapping data, so the radar provides one sort of sensing data point and the camera provides another. When you fuse the two, you get a clearer picture and a higher degree of accuracy.”

These safety features offer comfort and peace of mind to drivers, added Cropper. “That kind of functionality, while not being autonomous, is certainly complimentary to what the driver can already do.”

More 170,000 Acuras equipped with AcuraWatch are now on U.S. roads and represent more than half of the brand’s sales this year, said Sloustcher. Along with other car companies installing similar active safety packages, there is growing evidence that the technology both prevents crashes and reduces the severity of those that do take place.

For example, Acura and Mercedes-Benz vehicles with forward collision warning and active braking had 14 percent fewer insurance claims filed for property damage compared to the same models without the technology, according to a study by the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI). Adaptive headlights also reduced property damage claims by 10 percent compared to the same vehicle with standard headlights.

There is noticeably less interest in hybrid and electric vehicles among buyers. Electric vehicles account for just 1 percent of new car sales in 2016, though experts expect those numbers to rise in the coming decades.

“The manufacturers are all very interested in electric,” said Koenigsberg. “We don’t see a huge interest in the Atlanta market.”